We are back from 12 days of diving Indonesia. Thanks to all who gave us advise before the trip, so here goes my report to pay it forward.
We began our diving at Bunaken Island with Cha Cha Resort. It was very low season, and some days we were the only guests. The diving was wall diving down around 70feet then progressing up to spend the last 20 minutes near the top of the beautiful corals. The walls are very healthy, best reef we have ever seen in our lives, millions of small fish, saw black tip reef sharks a few times, big bump head parrotfishes, and the corals were so colorful that I could just relax and enjoy the scenery. Huge fields of hard plate top coral (not sure of the name) at most sites. Currents were there but manageable and fun at some sites. The dive boat was an old, wooden style set up well for diving. We never had more than 5 divers including the guide. Crew was very helpful with our gear and they set everything up between dives. 2 dives in the a.m. Staying on the boat between dives. Afternoon dive costs extra but was available. We never dove a site with another boat in the area. Dives averaged 65 minutes.
The resort was comfortable, affordable, and so close to dive sites. Amazing food, and the staff was always busy making our stay clean and comfortable. Rooms were up steep stairs on most rooms, so that might be difficult for some folks. No dive dock, so low tide you had to walk a ways out to dive boat but an easy walk, good bottom footing. The one thing that was not comfortable for me was there is nowhere to walk on the beach. It is a small beach closed off at both ends, so to go for a walk you need to go up to top of hills to a muddy path toward a local village. This path eventually becomes paved though but I wouldn't feel safe walking there by myself because it's so primitive and remote. The closest village is very primitive with pigs and chickens roaming, dirt floor houses with thatched roofs, but the people always looked very clean and happy despite not having running water or toilets. Everything on this island has to be brought over from mainland, Manado, and it's a miracle how well ChaCha resort deals with provisions so well.
Then we were off to Kungkungan Bay Resort in Lembeh. Beautiful drive across the mainland to get there. The resort has a very nice, clean van for the drive. Scenery was farmlands, rice, tilapia ponds, corn, bananna, papaya everywhere. Farming still done with ox and cart, jungle terrain, just beautiful. Went through a couple of cities, then in 1 1/2 hours we arrived in our own private jungle villa at Kungkungan. Once again we were the only guests some days and other days only 4 other guests. This made for very nice space on the dive boats. They normally have a max of 4 divers per guide which is nice for showing us the unusual critters Lembeh has. At first impression I found it very ugly underwater, for instance some dives we would spend 30 minutes in the black sandy muck and not seeing much then all of a sudden you find a very hairy frogfish or wierd crab or amazingly colorful urchins and on and on we found things we had never seen before. Some dives we ended on beautiful, colorful hard and soft coral reefs full of sparkly little fish everywhere, so don't believe anyone if they say there is no reef diving in Lembeh. The guides do tend to spend all the time in the muck tho looking for odd things but when I saw a reef nearby I would hang out and relax there to get my fix on the beauty. We saw pigmy seahorses, I don't see what that hype is all about, they were so small it was uneventful for me, saw blue ring octopus and I need a new book to I'd the rest of the strange things we saw. Dives averaged 70 minutes, max depth about 75 feet.
For me, I was happy to spend only 5 nights here. For others, the hunt is on and people we met go back here year after year. I don't think I would go back. Once is enough. But, we will definitely go back to Bunaken!
Kungkungan staff and resort was amazing tho. Very clean, upscale, food was amazing and our all inclusive package included 4 course meals you could choose off a varied menu. All types of food too, never boring and the cute girls who served were always smiling, laughing and happy. The management stays away in the background and staff must be treated well by their happy attitude showing. The spa ladies were amazing and professional, average price for a full hour massage was $23, so I went for 3 different sessions, first time to pamper myself on a dive trip. The facial was my favorite.
I would be happy to answer any questions if you are planning your first trip to this part of the world. We loved the people here, so friendly and happy. Just drop me an email, renee97038@hotmail.com
We began our diving at Bunaken Island with Cha Cha Resort. It was very low season, and some days we were the only guests. The diving was wall diving down around 70feet then progressing up to spend the last 20 minutes near the top of the beautiful corals. The walls are very healthy, best reef we have ever seen in our lives, millions of small fish, saw black tip reef sharks a few times, big bump head parrotfishes, and the corals were so colorful that I could just relax and enjoy the scenery. Huge fields of hard plate top coral (not sure of the name) at most sites. Currents were there but manageable and fun at some sites. The dive boat was an old, wooden style set up well for diving. We never had more than 5 divers including the guide. Crew was very helpful with our gear and they set everything up between dives. 2 dives in the a.m. Staying on the boat between dives. Afternoon dive costs extra but was available. We never dove a site with another boat in the area. Dives averaged 65 minutes.
The resort was comfortable, affordable, and so close to dive sites. Amazing food, and the staff was always busy making our stay clean and comfortable. Rooms were up steep stairs on most rooms, so that might be difficult for some folks. No dive dock, so low tide you had to walk a ways out to dive boat but an easy walk, good bottom footing. The one thing that was not comfortable for me was there is nowhere to walk on the beach. It is a small beach closed off at both ends, so to go for a walk you need to go up to top of hills to a muddy path toward a local village. This path eventually becomes paved though but I wouldn't feel safe walking there by myself because it's so primitive and remote. The closest village is very primitive with pigs and chickens roaming, dirt floor houses with thatched roofs, but the people always looked very clean and happy despite not having running water or toilets. Everything on this island has to be brought over from mainland, Manado, and it's a miracle how well ChaCha resort deals with provisions so well.
Then we were off to Kungkungan Bay Resort in Lembeh. Beautiful drive across the mainland to get there. The resort has a very nice, clean van for the drive. Scenery was farmlands, rice, tilapia ponds, corn, bananna, papaya everywhere. Farming still done with ox and cart, jungle terrain, just beautiful. Went through a couple of cities, then in 1 1/2 hours we arrived in our own private jungle villa at Kungkungan. Once again we were the only guests some days and other days only 4 other guests. This made for very nice space on the dive boats. They normally have a max of 4 divers per guide which is nice for showing us the unusual critters Lembeh has. At first impression I found it very ugly underwater, for instance some dives we would spend 30 minutes in the black sandy muck and not seeing much then all of a sudden you find a very hairy frogfish or wierd crab or amazingly colorful urchins and on and on we found things we had never seen before. Some dives we ended on beautiful, colorful hard and soft coral reefs full of sparkly little fish everywhere, so don't believe anyone if they say there is no reef diving in Lembeh. The guides do tend to spend all the time in the muck tho looking for odd things but when I saw a reef nearby I would hang out and relax there to get my fix on the beauty. We saw pigmy seahorses, I don't see what that hype is all about, they were so small it was uneventful for me, saw blue ring octopus and I need a new book to I'd the rest of the strange things we saw. Dives averaged 70 minutes, max depth about 75 feet.
For me, I was happy to spend only 5 nights here. For others, the hunt is on and people we met go back here year after year. I don't think I would go back. Once is enough. But, we will definitely go back to Bunaken!
Kungkungan staff and resort was amazing tho. Very clean, upscale, food was amazing and our all inclusive package included 4 course meals you could choose off a varied menu. All types of food too, never boring and the cute girls who served were always smiling, laughing and happy. The management stays away in the background and staff must be treated well by their happy attitude showing. The spa ladies were amazing and professional, average price for a full hour massage was $23, so I went for 3 different sessions, first time to pamper myself on a dive trip. The facial was my favorite.
I would be happy to answer any questions if you are planning your first trip to this part of the world. We loved the people here, so friendly and happy. Just drop me an email, renee97038@hotmail.com
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